Gate latch



Aug. 12, 1924.. m 1,504,9'92

E3. F. $K'EENART GATE LATCH Patented Aug 12, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICEQ.

BENJAMIN STEWART, OF TUIEF, TEXAS.

Application filed. JuIy 16,

To aZZ whom it may] concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. STEWART, a citizen of the United States,residing at Tufi, in the county of Bandera and State of Texas haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Gate Latches of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in gate latches and moreparticularly to a gate latch adapted to co-act with asliding bar or boltcarried on the gate member.

The main object of the invention is to provide a gate latch comprising acarrying member having rotatively mounted thereon a keeper or retainingmember formed of radially projecting wings or fingers and means toyieldingly permit rotation of said keeper or retaining member in onedirection but prevent reverse movement thereof, together with suitablemechanism carried upon the gate member to cooperate with the keeper orre taining member.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the abovecharacter that is simple in construction, strong and durable and whichit is believed may be manufactured at a reasonably low cost.

Various other objects and advantages of my invention will becomeapparent during the continuance of the following description.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a view in elevation showing the gate memberpartly broken away and illustrating my invention as in its preferredembodiment.

Figure 2 is a view in horizontal cross section taken on line- 22 ofFigure 1, and,

Figure 3 is a view in vertical cross section taken on line 3-3 of Figure1.

In the drawings, 10 designates the gate member which in the presentillustration is of conventional form and 11 designates the post whichcarries the improved keeper mechanism of my invention. Any particularform of sliding bolt or retaining member may be carried by the gatemember 10 but for purposes of illustration I have shown, in the presentembodiment, a gate member 10 provided with suitable bearing portions 12through which is slidably mounted a bolt or retaining member 13. Anexpansion spring 14 is arranged about the shank of the bolt member 13 inorder to normally maintain the same in its outermost position withrespect to the gate member while means as shown at 15 are provided toearn Lancer.

1923. Seria1 No. 651,875.

limit the outward movement of the bolt member. A handle or operatingmember 16 is pivotally mounted on the gate member 10 as at 17 and hasits lower end connected to the bolt member 13 as at 18 whereby the boltmember may be freely operated.

The post 11 is provided on one side near its upper end with a cutoutportion 19 that receives a carrying plate 20 that is substantially Lshaped when viewed in cross sec tion as in Figure 2. The retaining platemay be secured in position by such means as shown at 21 so as to befirmly held with respect to the post and it is provided at a centralpoint with a bearing portion 22 hav ing an opening 23 formed therein forthe purpose that will presently appear.

The keeper member proper consists of a body portion 24 that is pivotallymounted on a pin 25 which projects through the bearing portion 22 of thecarrying plate 20 and is embedded in the post 11 as shown in Figure 2whereby it will be free to rotate as will be hereinafter set forth. Thebody member 24 carries a series of radially extending retaining wings orfingers 26 which rotate therewith and which when in the position shownin Figure 3 serve to maintain the projecting end of the bolt member 13against accidental dislodgment so that the gate member will be heldstationary with respect to the post member 11.

Upon reference to Figure 3 it will be observed that the projecting endof the bolt member 13 of the gate member 10 operates in a plane justbelow the plane of pin 25 or the body portion 24 of the keeper orretaining member so that when the pin is moved flush with the post 11,the projecting end of the bolt member will engage one of the radiallyprojecting wings or fingers 26 and impart a quarter turn to the keeperor retaining member until it finally reaches the position shown inFigure 3.

I also provide suitable means for yield ingly permitting rotation of thekeeper or retaining member 24 in one direction but which will preventreverse movement thereof so as to firmly hold the projecting end of thebolt 13 in place. With this in view, I provide a leaf spring 27 one endof which is secured to the carrying plate 20 as at 28 while the otherend is curved as at 29 to provide a pawl portion. The pawl portion 29 iscurved in the arc of a circle that is smaller than the circle about theextreme end of the wings or finger portions 26 of the latch member 24 sothat when it assumes the position shown in Figure 3, it will preventrotation of the keeper member in one direction and when the keepermember is rotated in an opposite direction the end of each succeedingwing or finger 26 will be yieldingly engaged thereby so as to preventtoo free a movement.

In operation when the gate member 10 is closed, the projecting end ofthe bolt member 13 will seek a position behind the downwardly projectingwing or finger member 26 and by reason of the pawl 29, the keeper member2 will be held against such rotation as would release the projecting endof bolt member. hen the gate member is to be opened, the operator graspsthe projecting end of the handle or operating portion 16 and slides thebolt member rearwardly so that the gate member may be swung into an openposition and the projecting end of the bolt member will swing free ofthe retaining member 24.

From the foregoing it is believed that the advantages and novel featuresof my invention will be readily understood and therefore furtherdetailed description is deemed unnecessary.

lVhat is claimed is A keeper of the character described, comprising abody portion rotatively mounted on a gate post, radially projectingwings or fingers carried by said body portion a leaf spring mountedindependent of said keeper, one end of said leaf spring being curved inthe arc of a circle to provide a pawl, said pawl having its free endproject ing between certain of said wings or fingers to prevent rotationof said keeper in one direction and said pawl being curved in the arc ofa circle of smaller diameter than a circle embracing the outer ends ofsaid wings or fingers whereby it will yieldingly permit rotation of saidkeeper in the other direction, substantially described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

BENJAMIN F. STEWART.

